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SENIORNET COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER NEWS
Oct. 1, 2001; Vol. 2; Issue #10; Mail Address: PMB 44, 12819 SE
38th St., Bellevue, WA 98006-1326
Voice Mail: 206-232-5892; Classroom: Phantom Lake Elementary
School, Bellevue
For Detailed Information, Class Schedules: www.seniornetps.org
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By Phil Scheier
REMINDER: IT’S KAFFEE KLATCH TIME: Swinging into the new
Fall season, SeniorNet holds its monthly
first-Tuesday-of-the-month Kaffee Klatch, a fancy name for our
no-host social, Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, at 11 a.m., at the Crossroads
Mall Food Circus. So pull up a table or chair, or both, and join
in some very interesting conversation about computer problems and
other stuff. At last month’s KK, despite the Labor Day
Holiday, some 30 members, visitors and others sat around and
enjoyed.
A LOOK AT FUTURE SENIORNET HOME: Principal Jill
McLeod and SeniorNet Pres. Helen Hesketh made a detailed
presentation of the new bigger Phantom Lake Elementary School,
which will rise on the site of the current school in Bellevue, at
the September membership meeting at the school. With the aid of a
large rendering of the new, much larger school, members got an
exciting glimpse of our future home a few years hence.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING: The date of the next monthly
meeting is Tuesday, October 16, at 10:00 am at the Phantom Lake
School in Portable 2, with the always-interesting program to be
announced later.
ABOUT VIRUS PROTECTION AND FIREWALLS: Using a
projector linked to a computer, two veteran SeniorNet
instructors, Hal Mozer and Vice Pres. Bill Bumpas demonstrated
the operation of virus protection programs, and installing a
firewall to protect users at this month’s membership meeting
at the Phantom Lake Elementary School. Somehow, seeing the demo
in a big size projector presentation, step-by-step, cleared up a
lot of questions for many of the viewers, including this writer.
HOW TWO SENIORNETTERS LEARNED OF TERROR ATTACKS:
It was that terrible morning of Sept. 11 when Middle East
terrorists—again—shocked the civilized world when they
hijacked four American passenger jet planes and were able to use
three of them as missiles in attacking three buildings with more
than 6,000 murdered, and four thousand more injured. On the
fourth hijacked plane, passengers attacked the hijackers, with
the plane crashing into an open field in Pennsylvania, and all
aboard also killed.
REGISTRAR LOUISE FLORA AND SPOUSE CHUCK had just
boarded their plane at SeaTac, bound for a Switzerland vacation.
Louise said they had just adjusted their carry-on luggage in the
overhead bins and starting to settle in for the lengthy flight.
“Then to our amazement, we were ordered to immediately leave
the plane with our carry-on luggage, and return to the boarding
area. No reason given,” Louise recalled. And no reason for
the sudden order to leave the plane was given, even later in the
passenger waiting area, where the TV news monitors had been
turned off, adding to the mystery and concern. Then Louise
remembered she had a small radio with her. And it was only when
she turned it on did they learn to their horror about the two
hijacked jets flown into the twin World Trade Center Towers. Then
came the report of a third jet crashed into the Pentagon. Stunned
by the news of the tragedy, they finally were able to reclaim
their checked-in luggage and returned home.
MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE OCEAN IN COPENHAGEN a drama
of another kind was taking place at the same time with Ray Hansen
and spouse Mary winding up a lengthy journey in Denmark and into
Russia. They were preparing to return home the following day,
Sept. 12th. . Their reservations had been confirmed. They had
notified the hotel they would be giving up their room at that
time. “We were in Copenhagen,” recalled Ray, “ on
the 11th, planning on a jolly evening at the Tivoli, (The famed
entertainment garden in Copenhagen) when everyone in the hotel
was telling everyone else--in various languages--to turn on CNN,
that the Pentagon was being bombed.” And it was only then
that Ray and Mary learned to their horror that a short time
earlier two hijacked jet planes had each flown into the 110-story
twin towers in New York City.
DANISH OUTPOURING OF SYMPATHY TO AMERICANS:
“In a restaurant that evening,” Ray recalled, “Two
waiters, guessing from our jeans and sneakers we were Americans,
came over asked if we'd heard the terrible news and expressed
their very sincere and serious sympathies (we weren't at their
tables either). On the street, a nice Danish lady of a certain
age stopped us and said the same--and told us of the
demonstration of compassion and sympathy going on in front of the
US embassy. (Next morning we went there to see, and were so
impressed by the block-long sidewalk of flowers. Plus hundred if
not thousands of
Danes just sharing their feelings by having come there—by
foot and bicycles. Danes know, from WW2, what it's like to be
subjected to terrorism, to be victims.” With the U.S.
temporarily banning overseas flights into the country until
security was beefed up, Ray and Mary wound up spending an extra
week in Copenhagen, being forced to find another hotel, a
“tiny room” elsewhere, with others already signed up
for the room they had said they would vacate for the now-delayed
trip home. With overseas plane travel curtailed, rooms were in
short supply, so Ray felt lucky they were able to find anything.
Also fortunately for them, since they couldn’t leave, they
were able to extend the lease on their rental car and tour
around. They continued trying to find the first available flight
home, which took about a week before SAS could find seats for
them, Ray said. As the plane finally took off, after a lengthy
delay in loading, Ray recalled: “All us passengers broke
into hoorays and loud applause when the pilot lifted the wheels
of our 767 up off the runway Last time I heard such a passenger
outburst was on the plane taking three maybe four hundred of us
GIs out of Vietnam after getting through our year there.”
Ray, as most of us know, is a West Point and MIT graduate, and
served in the Army Corps of Engineers around the world on various
engineering assignments.
THE KIDS NEED MORE GRANPALS! AND THAT’S YOU!
The young, eager students at our host facility, the Phantom Lake
Elementary School in Bellevue, need more One-Hour-Per-Week
Granpals from our SeniorNet membership to help them more quickly
learn reading and other skills. SeniorNet Granpal Coordinator
Patty Herzog has sent out the following appeal: “We need
more Granpals. We have 22 scheduled in 17 classrooms at this
time. I received note from a teacher: ‘do you have any extra
Granpals hanging around? Some of my kids are already complaining
that they haven’t had a turn!’” The
“turn” is the 10-15 minutes the Granpal spends with
each student, listening to him/her read, discussing the meaning
of some words and encouraging them to read more at home. Granpals
only spend about an hour a week at this very rewarding task.
Patty urges: “If you have an hour per week to
volunteer—please contact Pat Herzog at (425) 747-2092, or
e-mail her at pattyherzog@msn.com.
NINETY-TWO YEARS OLD? SO WHAT? One of our
long-time students who mastered the computer in her late 80s, and
is now in the midst of writing a family history, is at it again.
Sarah Efron of Bellevue, now 92, is wrapping up a Microsoft Word
class at SeniorNet to further sharpen her Word skills. A member
of a pioneer Seattle family long active in community affairs,
Sarah is a grandmother and great grandmother, and still active.
Right now, she wants to push ahead with her family history and
felt the need of a refresher course in word processing to speed
her work. During past years, Sarah has also completed database
and Internet
courses. Our congratulations and admiration to this tireless
computer enthusiast.
THANKS FOR A JOB WELL DONE: After spending the
past six years as the efficient coordinator for the annual Brown
Bag luncheons held each summer at the school, Delores Davis
hailed the cooperation of her associates in making each event the
success it was. But now, Delores said, although she was stepping
down from that job, she would continue with her post as
coordinator for SeniorNet Volunteers, which spurred heavy
applause.
ANOTHER SENIORNET EXAMPLE OF VOLUNTEERISM: Based
on his many years in a top position in marketing and finance with
IBM, SeniorNet Vice Pres. Bill Bumpas reports that he and Marilyn
are going to be in Namibia, Africa, for three months. In addition
to volunteering at SeniorNet, where he is an instructor and
officer, Bill has been a volunteer with the International
Executive Service Corps. (IESC), a non-profit corporation, works
to increase the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized firms
and to strengthen governmental and business support organizations
in the developing world and in emerging democracies. Two years
ago they were in Presov, Slovakia, assisting a small
manufacturing firm establish the financial controls necessary to
manage their growth. This time, they will be working with the
Namibian Ministry of Trade and Industry to develop a business
planning training program for fledging entrepreneurs. They will
be living in Windhoek, the capital, but plan to get out of the
city on weekends to meet the people and see the country. And as
with any SeniorNet member on the road, Bill is madly trying to
figure out how to get email and Internet access while there so he
can keep in touch with friends and family and follow the World
Series.
FUNNY, I DON’T FEEL LIKE A COMPUTER: But
according to one greeting card company, its in-depth birthday
card, read by Harry Shedd at the Sept. 18th SeniorNet Membership
Meeting, there is a comparison—sort of. For example: The
front of the card reads:
Ever notice,
The older we get,
The more we're
Like computers?
We start out with lots of
Memory and drive,
Then we eventually
Become outdates,
Acquire errors in our systems,
And have to have our parts
Replaced.
Have a Happy
NO FLORIDA-TYPE VOTING HERE: Among those doing
prime-time duty in making sure citizens could vote at last
month’s primary was our own Harry Sully. Harry, who rarely
misses a membership meeting, took a few minutes off from his
duties at the local voting site to visit SeniorNet colleagues at
this month’s Membership Meeting. Also manning the polls that
day was John Wise.
COMPUTING TIPS:
HAVE YOU CREATED YOUR STARTUP DISK YET? A startup disk is good
insurance for your Windows 98, since it's not a matter of whether
the system will fail, but when, according to the online Net New
Net Tricks. If you have trouble starting Windows 98 even in Safe
mode, you can use the startup disk to start your computer, run
diagnostic programs, and fix many problems. Create your startup
disk by going to Start|Settings| Control Panel|Add/Remove
Programs. Click on the Startup Disk tab and insert a blank
diskette. If prompted, you may need your Windows CD. Label this
important disk and store it safely for possible future need.
CAUTION NOTE: While all computer-operating tips come from usually
reliable sources, readers are reminded they use them at their own
risk. AGAIN, IN CASE you have friends who are online, and may be
interested in taking more classes to expand their skills, you can
forward this newsletter to them by clicking forward when this
message is displayed. Then enter their address in the To box, and
click Send. We welcome your news items sent to the editor at
b26flyer@home.com. If you wish to receive this newsletter
monthly, send a brief message with your full name and email
address to the above email address. And if you wish to
unsubscribe, just send a message to same email address.
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Pres.> Helen Hesketh; Past Pres.> Clif
Wuesthoff; Vice Pres.>Bill Bumpas; Secy>Dave Lewis;
Treas.>Bob Swenson;
Registrar<Louise Flora; Curriculum. Coordinator> John Wise;
Facilities Coordinator> Ken Crandall;
Member-at-Large>Delores Davis; Volunteers Coordinator>
Delores Davis;
Public Relations & Online Newsletter Editor> Phil Scheier;
Publicity>Jo Hugh
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